Rising up through the mid-20th century, I keep in mind when the place to buy clothes was on the downtown division retailer with it is intricately hand painted Manikins within the entrance window.
Apart from the well-known chain shops like Montgomery Ward and Penney’s, Vancouver, Washington was served by a regionally owned previous standby CC’s Division Retailer. CC’s was the type of retailer that closed on Sundays and was recognized for his or her “higher” merchandize.
CC’s was almost a museum even by 1940’s and ’50’s requirements. Shabbily genteel and considerably dowdy it had creaking naked picket flooring, large picket staircase and excessive ceilings, however what actually made CC’s stand an element from different downtown Vancouver shops was how buy transactions have been completed.
When prospects made a purchase order in CC’s the clerk dealing with the transaction put the cash right into a metallic container the scale of a soup can and despatched it together with a sale voucher, crusing by digital wire to a second ground central cashier. The cashier made change and returned the transaction in the identical method to the clerk in order that she might shut out the sale along with your receipt.
CC’s is the one retailer I keep in mind buying in that dealt with their “money solely” transactions on this method. Grandma was a daily shopper at CC’s and she or he selected the shop particularly for his or her number of matching Cinderella model clothes for my sister and me. I keep in mind looking for again to high school and Easter garments there too.
In these day ladies “dressed” for downtown buying expeditions and prospects like my grandmother knew the shop’s clerks by identify. This was a time when there was customized service was the norm. Understanding what grandma appreciated to purchase for us, clerks typically held again Cinderella clothes in our sizes for her to come back in and select from.
Apart from buying clothes for my youthful sister and me, grandma typically would purchase an outfit and hat for herself. CC’s carried a advantageous line of girls’s hats. In lately, hats and gloves have been one of many beliefs of femininity and a should for Sunday church attendance.
Standing on a nook of Important Avenue, CC’s was a big a part of downtown Vancouver. It was additionally a part of a extra courteous period, an period when on a regular basis buying was far more formal. Individuals dressed up, rode the bus and took their time looking although the shop merchandize. When you went right into a retailer, the house owners chatted with you and needed you to spend a while. It was all a part of the native taste of a bygone period.